January 10, 2014

WILLIAMSTOWN -Point production wasn't Allie Robinson's thing in a loss to Ravenswood, but the junior more than compensated in Williamstown's 76-50 win Thursday night against Ritchie County.

Held scoreless against the Red Devils the previous night, Robinson scored 16 points in the first half against the Rebels and finished with a game-high 19 points.

"Allie is one of our upperclassmen, and we need her leadership - she did a good job," Williamstown coach Fred Sauro said as his team improved to 4-3 in the Little Kanawha Conference's North Division.

Article Photos

Photo courtesy of Ruth PatrickWilliamstown’s Allie Robinson looks to dish off to a teammate while being defended by Ritchie County’s Becca Sullivan, right, and Kylie Gump during a girls basketball game Thursday at Williamstown High School.

Also scoring in double figures for the 6-5 Yellowjackets were freshman point guard Ashley Morris with 13 points and the team's only senior, Cami Mossor, tossing in 10 points. Morris and Mossor each picked off seven passes as Williamstown forced Ritchie County into 41 turnovers.

"I was happy with what we were able to do tonight," Sauro said. "It was a close game throughout and Ritchie County was making runs throughout. We were fortunate to make a couple runs ourselves and hold them off. They were well prepared for this."

Despite its sloppiness on offense, Ritchie County stayed within striking distance in the third quarter and trailed 42-32 with 5 1/2 minutes remaining in the period.

Three minutes later and all of a sudden the Williamstown lead blossomed into a 24-point cushion at 60-36.

"When you play a team like Williamstown that gets out and runs like this, they do those runs of 10 and 12 points straight," Ritchie County coach Dave McCullough said after his ballclub dropped to 3-6 and 1-4 in the LKC North. "You have to maintain with them, but you can't miss layups or foul shots. And we did that some tonight."

While Williamstown made amends from the free throw line from the night before after making 63 percent (17-of-27) against Ritchie County as opposed to barely 50 percent against Ravenswood (21-of-40), the Rebels experienced their woes from the charity stripe by making just 2-of-13.

"That's typical for us," McCullough said. "I told the girls after the game that we can't allow to leave points on the floor when you know you are going to play a team that averages more than 70 points per game."

Three Rebels scored 10 points apiece, including Rachel Haddox who pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds. Abby Burgess also scored 10 points to go with four steals, while freshman Stephanie Kirk came off the bench to contribute eight of her 10 points in a second quarter that had Ritchie County trailing 39-26 at halftime.

"Stephanie Kirk can score at times and handle the ball a little bit," McCullough said. "She has some length at guard that a lot of times you don't have. It's nice to have a guard who is 5-7 or 5-8."

A 3-pointer from Haddox off an assist from Kirk gave Ritchie County its largest lead at 12-7 with 3 1/2 minutes remaining in the first quarter. The two teams exited for the second quarter tied at 14. But in the next five minutes, Williamstown outscored the Rebels 16-2 and the Yellowjackets never trailed again.